Russian ammo- corrosive?

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lsudave

lsudave

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I remember a time when it was considered a rule of thumb that Russian, Berdan-primed ammo was going to have corrosive primers. I think most of that was surplus, but I think that was part of the reason that stuff was considered a bit on the no-go side.

I've shot 'modern' Russian steel for years with no effects, no issues. I'd come to the conclusion that the stuff marketed commercially, at least, wasn't. I've slowly moved from straight Eastern Bloc guns, to using it in others- 9x19, 45 acp, 223 etc.

Now, I'm looking online (price-checking like the rest of us), and I'm seeing corrosive stuff again. Sgammo has corrosive 'remanufactured' Vympel.
But there's another site, that seems to have just Vympel (Best Value Ammo), that advertises 'NEW' corrosive. They put in the description, it's new manufactured.

Makes me wonder about some of the other stuff again.
 
I actually want to give a special shout out and thank you to the tens of thousands who think it's garbage and won't shoot it in their guns because it's "corrosive" and "wears your gun out fast". You have made a majority of my shooting over the last decade or more alot less expensive...... :)
 
Corrosive isn,t a big deal. It aint some terrible acid. It,s salt from the priming compound and it washes away easily with water based cleaners. I,ve always used dollar store "windex". Water with a little soap mixed in. Helps dissolve the powder fouling. Couple sloppy patches and clean/ oil as usual. Pay a little more attention to a gas operated auto. But the powder/carbon build up usually insulates corrosion unless its wet or real soupy humid. Just me experiences over 30 years shooting cheap combloc surplus.
 
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US mil ammunition was corrosive for a long time- not sure when it stopped, but it may be something to think about when looking at purchases of MILSURP ammo- assuming any still exists.
 
With the supply problem the ammo company's are having I would not trust the life of my guns by trusting any ammo site advertising non corrosive ammo. It's too easy for someone to grab an old box of corrosive ammo to fill the order.
So any steel case ammo or military surplus brass ammo I assume is corrosive unless I have checked it. It's not much more trouble to wash the corrosive salts out before you clean. You can use a few water soaked patches through your barrel before you do your normal cleaning.
 
FL-NC said:
US mil ammunition was corrosive for a long time- not sure when it stopped, but it may be something to think about when looking at purchases of MILSURP ammo- assuming any still exists.
Click to expand...
IIRC, M2 ball and AP ammo switched to non-corrosive primers before the end of the Korean conflict, 1952-53 timeframe.
 
I think that reman Vympel stuff came about during the pandemic when even steel cased was getting harder to come by.
 
FL-NC said:
US mil ammunition was corrosive for a long time- not sure when it stopped, but it may be something to think about when looking at purchases of MILSURP ammo- assuming any still exists.
Click to expand...
The one older US military cartridge that was never loaded with corrosive primers is the .30 Carbine.

You can feel safe buying any age of US surplus Carbine ammo, if, as mentioned, any exists.
 
There was a recent lot of 7.62x39 from kyrgyzstan that is new manufacture and has corrosive primers. For the deaf people in the back keyword is it's from kyrgyzstan. BVA sold a few lots of it.
 
What Scooter said. Bullets are not corrosive - except for friction and that is a norm. To my knowledge no powder is corrosive - possibility exists, but I know of none. Cases are not corrosive and never touch the bore.

Only primers with the 'old' formula for compound are corrosive. And they corrode ONLY as Scooter explained. Clean the arm and one is home free.
 
Always assume non-US, eastern bloc ammo is corrosively primed. Then you won't have any issues because you'll clean it well before returning to storage.
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Point in case, I'm using newer 7.62x54r yugoslav ammo from SGammo. It is berdan primed and corrosive, I thought I had cleaned my Mosin good, a couple days later I pulled it out and rechecked the bore. I hadn't done it gooder enough. Flush, clean, scrub, re-oil and it looks new again [for a 1942]
----
I'll use up my supply then probably just reload for it. She only see a few hundred rounds a year.
 
arsterling180 said:
There was a recent lot of 7.62x39 from kyrgyzstan that is new manufacture and has corrosive primers. For the deaf people in the back keyword is it's from kyrgyzstan. BVA sold a few lots of it.
Click to expand...

Very courteous people. Spend about 3 weeks there at one point. Being a former Warsaw pact country, they would follow Russian/Soviet Union manufacturing techniques. The US mostly expects NATO countries to do the same with 5.56 and 9mm NATO ammo.
 
lsudave:
I have bought since 2008, and Used over 8-9,000 rds. of Wolf, Tula, Monarch 7.62x39 ammo,

not including 1,000 of .223 (during 2008) and since this February, over 2,000 rds of Barnaul, Wolf and Tula .308, for my brand-new PTR-91s.

No signs of Any corrosion after using Only a little Breakfree CLP or Ballistol CLP in bores and chambers.

—-None of it was in any recent batch from SGammo—-

The only “problem” regarding Russian ammo produced since the 1990s concerns some hidden agendas where people only Want you to use US-made ammo , in any gun.

Any related agendas are also deceptive, or simply crafted by the many Hundreds of staff and private sellers whose businesses sell US-made ammo in shops, or on Gunbroker etc. $$
 
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Like the majority of shooters here and I mean mature shooters we shot cases of 30/06 corr at matches in the 60s yes GI corr ammo made in the 40s 50s a good cleaning with the old GI bore cleaner and dried well and oil patched my rifle still shoots as good today as it did when I got it from DCMP
 
Yes, all Russian ammo is highly corrosive, it's a Russki plot to destroy all American guns prior to the invasion.

Hold on a second while I adjust my tin hat...
 
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The gas system of the M1 Carbine dictated that a non corrosive priming was needed, and the US went over to non corrosive during WWII and finalized that in the 50's.

The Soviets used corrosive priming, but when 'Russia' emerged after the Soviet downfall, they started selling off old stock to the world market, including us.

Russia also changes with the market and when , say steel core was reclassified as "Armor piercing" well, they took old stock, pulled the bullets and reloaded them with acceptable bullets.
Whatever makes the sale......

I use corrosive ammo all the time, I just flush , first, with boiling water to dissolve and flush the primings corrosive salts out and the heat of the water makes the barrels steel hot, which very quickly dries the bore and Im scrubbing it anyways by then.
My M-39's bore is shiney and clean, albeit worn from 10,000 rds +
 
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